In my opinion would be simpler and cheaper to start by colonizing the moon.

The moon has available resources that can be collected and processed remotely.

Critical infrastructures can also be built remotely.

It seems to be a simpler technological challenge

And it can serve as a yard for building space bases

Can we vote on this? I vote that we create a Death Star. Not to blow anything up (well, maybe Pluto...), but just because it will look so cool on our post cards.

@Patrick McManus I agree. That's no moon base - prohibited by UN Outer Space treaty Article II. 

A really big space station / generation ship is the only practical way to physically home a reasonable proportion of the population on Asgardian "Soil".Should create lots of jobs and stimulate the global economy.

The best part is we don't have to work out if the economics are actually viable - Some generous Professor has done the work for us and put it in the public domain here https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.09054.pdf.

This is a more "User Friendly" version & worth a read https://phys.org/news/2015-12-economics-star-wars-analysis-financialruin.html

What do you think? Should we try to start a petition?

@SGNR - Good find!!! Finally, something based on REAL science! Absolutely we should start a petition!

Per your second link, "Comparing the price  ($17.5 billion) and size (100,000 metric tons of steel) of the USS  Gerald Ford with an estimated size of both Death Stars, the price tag  for the Empire was astounding: $193 quintillion for the first version;  $419 quintillion for the second, though manageable in comparison to the  $4.6 sextillion Galactic economy."

All we need to do is mine a few asteroids, and I saw a couple threads here about that, so obviously "Asgardia" has been doing that already. I figure we could start construction as soon as the petition is approved, and we can be moving in by Spring. I just sold my car, and I put my house up for sale. I'm ready. Oh wait! One more thing - should we allow pets, or maybe I should think about finding them a new home?

I'm so in favour of Asgardia mining the hell out of dumba$$ rocks.

Gotta keep the lieTs on. No expense spared reducing development and running co$ts for not http :// dub dub dub Asgardia, subdomain of space

Love the little touches. like the TLA captcha

well before we even begin living anywhere off the Earth, we have to build a place to live! autonomous mining drones should be sent up into space and mine either asteroids or the moon, and have a user designated drop point for mined resources. this warehouse and refining facility should be equipped with, at first, small refining and 3D printing equipment, that get exponentially bigger and more complicated the longer the process runs. after a certain period of time passes, the production facility should begin constructing prefabricated structures that "fold up" for easy transport and unfold at their destination. after filling these prefabricated structures with a breathable atmosphere, people should begin moving in to inhabit these habitats. where they are is a matter of cost and time. the amount of time it would take to prepare each viable location for habitation varies with each Location, a facility in Orbit or on the moon won't take as long as a facility on Mars or in the upper atmosphere of Venus, but the planetary facilities will last longer due to the higher Gravity, with the Venutian facility capable of self suffiency and potential profitability within a decade or two, complete habitation of the upper atmosphere within a century and a half of producing Oxygen through Hydrolysis and photosynthetic processes

I wonder if much thought has been given to the possibility our interference in the universe may lead to our downfall ! With talk of mining asteroids and planets I cannot help but wonder if we may inadvertently alter some delicate balance and perhaps the orbit of, say an asteroid, which may have a domino effect of colliding with and altering the course of other objects possibly resulting in a major impact with earth. It seems to me the desire to mine asteroids etc is not driven by desire to benefit all mankind but rather that unquenchable thirst for wealth. 

  In order to start using the Moon, we would need to spend enormous amount of inventive and research both on Earth and in orbit of the Earth. We need more than a dozen manned flights to the moon with the lunar landing surface and expanded there temporary moon bases.
Purpose-for detailed study as its surface and subsoil.
Search for promising natural cavities in the Moon, such as lava pockets such as the first permanent settlements. 

  We need to invent and develop new building materials based on Lunar minerals. We need to find water on the Moon in the right quantities, whether water-which is natively, such as water ice in the craters or at the poles. Or we need find minerals, from which you can extract water such as talc is Mg3 [Si4O10] (OH) 2, brucite-Mg (OH) 2, serpentine-Mg6 [Si4O10] (OH) 8, gypsum Sa [SO4]. 2N2O and others, we find on the Moon probably unknown Earth Science minerals, which will give us and the water, and other discoveres…

  The natural lava pockets on the moon will also have to be surveyed, as they may be the best place to begin colonizing the moon. Because they will provide a safe haven from the cosmic radiation and the micrometeorites of the moons, from plasma solar storms. It will also be necessary to develop load gravity chambers and gravitational simulators for people living on the moon so that they do not can from the Earth's G gravity, because it is known that the moon's gravitation is much weaker than the Earth, and this is a big problem in the cut colonists permanent residence on the moon. 

  The Asgardia is to be vastly discovering and researching in the space field. We will need to invent and develop different radiation protection options, gravitational devices, develop a whole new mining industry in a non-terrestrial environment. Invent systems to protect the earth and its colonies from cosmic threats, including anti-asteroid protection. 
It's a job for many hundreds of years ...

In my opinnion, it's good to dream big, and the ultimate  goal of the space habitat (either an orbital space station or a moon  habitat) is absolutely reachable. However, it is absolutely not  realistic to start designing such a structure right away. We're not even  close to have the necessary technology, nor the budget. We have to  start small in order to reach our ultimate goal (building a space/moon  habitat for thousands of us). A first milestone could be to launch a  small commercial low orbit station, like Orion Span is intending to do  in 2021. I strongly suggest you to take a look at Orion Span project  (introduced here for example: https://www.space.com/40207-space-hotel-launch-2021-aurora-station.html?-newsletter&&-sdc).

Such a milestone would have multiple purposes for our project:

(1)  We will make money out of a related activity. I call that the SpaceX  strategy, whose ultimate goal is to colonize Mars, but is for now  developing rockets for commercial use.

(2) We will learn  from our mistakes. Our first station will not be perfect: it will come  across many issues, and we will tackle them one by one, methodically and  rigorously.

(3) We can expand it little by little, by  "plugging" new modules to the core station. Say on year 1 we start with a  station with a capacity of 4 people (just like Orion Span plans in  2021). We will learn a lot, and correct the potential (and inevitable)  technical issues that our station will have. Then, on year 2 or 3 (or  more), we launch a second module with a capacity of 5-6 people, that  will be "plugged" to the first one, and so on.

(4) In  parallel we can allocate a certain proportion of our engineering force  to develop a first prototype of station with artificial gravity (most  likely a rotational structure). Or a moon habitat prototype.